outside polar bears swing on street lamps
elephants pose balancing upended, on trunk,
the stoney-faced hippo is ridden by a drunk,
pachyderm pavers lead the way for footsteps,
to pass scoops of blue and a wafer tube
on public view, today no queues of the joblost
to be herded inside the grey windowed
box-ticking exercise, heels hit new stone inlaid
with a promise for a better, brighter future,
an Arctic wind buffers, buttoned-up folk
gathering in their droves, to see the sight,
to witness the spectacle, to dream and wonder
as to what the night will deliver.